Aircraft crew attendant seats, or jump seats, are commonly provided in cockpits or passenger cabins. Passenger cabin attendant seats are typically used by the passenger cabin flight attendant crew, especially during takeoff and landing, and are typically located near an emergency exit to allow a flight attendant to readily open an exit door if necessary in the event of an emergency. Such passenger cabin crew attendant seats also are commonly designed to be folded when not in use to maintain clear pathways to emergency exits.
One conventional flight attendant's folding seat assembly for mounting to a wall in an aircraft cabin includes a seat bottom that can be unfolded and pulled down to an open position against a seat return spring, with cams that are actuated by the seat bottom frame that urge the seat back into a downwardly and forwardly sloping seating orientation, and rearward force exerted by a user against the seat back frame is reacted through the cams into the supporting wall, so that the seat bottom is not forced to close on the seated occupant. The seat bottom frame is provided with a contoured seat cushion that complements contouring of a seat back cushion.
Another conventional seat or chair for an aircraft flight attendant includes a seatback section and a seat section hinged to each other and to a frame allowing the seatback and seat sections to take up different angular positions.
A crashworthy rear-facing aircraft passenger seat is known that includes forward, intermediate and rearward energy absorbers attached between the seat and the floor of the aircraft, and has the capability of operating in both tension and compression for absorbing energy during a crash. The seat also can flex along with crash-induced distortions of the floor to prevent separation of the seat from the floor during a crash.
In today's commercial airline industry, airline companies prefer passenger cabin arrangements that maximize the number of seats available for passengers. Unfortunately, increasing the number of seats in an aircraft can reduce the amount of space available for lavatories, food service galleys, and crew attendant seats. Moreover, government agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have promulgated regulations which mandate minimum widths of passageways leading to an emergency exit. For example, U.S. regulation 14 C.F.R. § 25.813 provides that the passageways such as aisle 151 in FIG. 1A which lead to main exit doors must provide an unobstructed passageway at least 36 inches wide. EASA regulations may be found at JAR/CS25.815.
Accordingly, there is a need for a high passenger solution (“HPS”) for single and dual-aisle passenger aircraft which provides space for at least one additional row of passenger seats and provides a sufficient solution for crew attendant seats while meeting the FAA regulations related to passageway clearance.